Category Archives: Entertainment

Peter said it best, I’m a sell sword podcaster. Here is my latest guest appearance on Core Temp Arts Network’s “We Got Five”. Listen to me, Peter and Devin Lamarr with two “R’s” talk about our Top 5 Sci Fi movies of all time. Give it a listen and leave us a review!

One of the fantastic perks about being in LA and knowing people who work in the Industry is having nights like last night. Pre-Emmy voting season, the Academy hosts evenings where an episode is screened and cast members, along with producers and/or directors, will have a Q&A panel. Last night, we attended a For Your Consideration event for “The Walking Dead”.

The event was held at the Egyptian Theater, right in the heart of Hollywood Blvd. I actually had forgotten that it was next to the iconic restaurant bar that I used to frequent in my 20s called Pig and Whistle. It also sits less than a block away from one of the more notorious sites:

Blogger’s note: if you haven’t watched “Going Clear” the HBO doc about Scientology, you should.

We waited in a long line but what I noticed was this crowd looked a lot less like industry people and a lot more like fans who attend Walker Stalker Cons or SDCC. I only saw one person in Cosplay, dressed as Michonne, but I definitely saw and heard chatter from die-hard TWD fans. My daughter brought something other than her earbuds and phone to kill time in line, while I answered work email.

She just started “Lord of the Flies” for school. That made me very proud. I had her do a ton of homework over the weekend so she could attend this event with me, I did not make her bring the book, though.

Once we got in, check-in was a smooth process and the theater quickly filled up. We actually walked to the theater early just so I could feel comfortable with where we were going. I’m glad we did because 90 minutes before the screening was to start, the line was halfway down the block already! I also saw my friend from @walkrstalkrcon, LeAnn. She’s been with the con since the very beginning and we met at WSC ATL 2013. I adore her.

LeAnn and her friend, who happens to work with Soneiqua Martin-Green, scored third row seats. Her pics kick butt on mine 🙂

For this event, they showed S5 finale and the cast came out for Q&A. When I saw the number of chairs on stage I said to myself, “Damn, I’m glad I’m not moderating.” Check out this stage:

Kirkman, Gimple, Nicotero, Lincoln, Reedus, moderator from Deadline Hollywood, Yeun, Gurira, McBride, Coleman, Martin-Green and Cudlitz. How could they all possibly have equal time to respond to questions? Well, they didn’t. The moderator asked a few, the audience asked a few and some came via Twitter. I tried to capture a few of the responses, sorry the video is crappy, I sat in the cheap seats towards the back.

Chad L Coleman talks about Tyreese’s death scene, after we saw a clip, and Andrew Lincoln follows up with his comments about it. Loads of well-deserved praise for Coleman’s performance in Lincoln’s comments.

It is really fun to hear the actors talk about how much they support one another. I think audience members don’t realize that on a show with a cast this size, there are times when they may not shoot together. Or, they may never work on the same day. So when a big scene is going to happen, many times the other actors will come to the set to show their support and watch filming. Obviously, they are also The Walking Dead fans.

Norman Reedus added his perspective on that day, as well. There was a lot of Tyreese death scene love love.

Melissa McBride fielded a question from the audience about why she is so mean to children.

Finally, Steven Yeun had an opportunity to speak *swoon*. He is such a #SHAG (smoking hot Asian guy.)

After the panel, we all went outside for a reception. Free booze and pupus on a Monday night in Hollywood, just another day in the life of a DiversityNerd.

If you have been following this blog since the beginning, you all know that I am a fan of “The Walking Dead.” That fandom includes being both an avid podcast listener and occasional free agent podcaster. I have friends who have taken their super fan status and parlayed it into phenomenon known as “Walker Stalker Con” and it happens in seven different cities per year. They throw these incredible fan experiences that include celebrity panel discussions, cosplay contests, unique and specialized vendor, photo ops and special surprises. In their own words, “Walker Stalker Con is not just a convention. It is a fan meet-up and an opportunity for each guest to come away feeling like they’ve had an amazing experience and became part of a greater community of zombie lovers! Walker Stalker Con is two or three days of events, panels, and experiences that zombie fans won’t find anywhere else!” These cons have expanded to include celebrities from television shows such as “Breaking Bad”, “Lost,” movies like “Gremlins”, Freddy Krueger flicks, and many “… of the Deads.” Aside from meeting my boyfriend at the inaugural Walker Stalker Con Atlanta 2013, I have also made new connections and friendships to a ton of incredibly creative, funny and talented people.

WSC SF was the first one held on the West Coast and although I am an Island Girl, I am also a Bay Area baby. The con schedule also coincided with my daughter’s birthday, so it we made plans to go. She could hardly contain her excitement at meeting celebrities, actors and podcasters alike. We’ve been to SDCC twice so far but WSC is so intimate compared to the beast that is SDCC, I knew this would be an incredible experience for her. My friends who host ““The Walking Dead’Cast” are based out of SF so they had planned a live podcast recording and meet-up for Friday evening. And, to top it all off, Jason offered me the opportunity to host a couple of panels. Time to get my Black Milk con gear picked out. Chee-pono!

(I bought the Zombie Nation Skater dress specifically for WSC ATL 2013 and I love it. That purchase led me to a Sharkie addition to their leggings, shooters and dresses.)

Fri night, the “Bob-B-Q” and ive podcast with Jason and Karen of “The Walking Dead’Cast” (Follow @jasonandkaren on the tweets.)

When we arrived, we were excited about the con and pretended to be afraid of walkers!

Jason and Karen hosted a live podcast, along with Mr. Blahg, and part of the set decor was a callback to our groups’ arrival at Terminus.

(That photo was from May 2014, before they had come back to start shooting.)

The character Gareth had a “truth trough” that he used to sort out whether those who arrived would survive. If newcomers accepted the cannibal lifestyle, they would live. If not, smack went their heads and slit went their throats. Jason decided it would be fun (fun?) to have a trough on stage during his live podcast and ask contestants from the audience to answer trivia question. Failure was not an option. Here are the girls dressing the set piece.

The live podcast was a lot of fun, with special guest Melissa Hutchinson and Gavin Hammond, two VO actors from Tell Tale Games “The Walking Dead.” That game is extremely story driven and it was my crack for a few weeks. I found myself swept up emotionally to the point where I cried at the end of Season One. No. I sobbed. Melissa and Gavin have such a close working relationship that their panel felt more like having drinks during Happy Hour with friends. They provided insight into the game and shared a little bit about being a VO actor. My favorite part of the panel was when they tried to switch roles and Melissa played Kenny (who swears a lot) and Gavin played Clementine, the pre-tween girl in the game. Honestly, I’m not sure who had more fun with the live podcast panel, the folks on stage or those of us in the audience.

And it turned out that J&K had a surprise up their sleeves to celebrate the birthdays of Mr. Blahg and my daughter. Quite a special birthday for my daughter, right? And the con had not even begun.

Day One of the con, we arrived during the VIP opening hours to see the vendor hall before the general admission masses descended. We ran into James (of James and Eric, the godfathers of the Walker Stalkers Podcast and convention.) Yup, James is one of the OG Walker Stalkers who founded WSC. I got my hug, we said our hellos and before he zipped off, James looked at his watch and said, “The next two hours will make or break the success of today, how things flow and how the crowds move, this is it…” WSC SF was a success and they announced that they will be back in 2016!

In my own mind, I was excited to be moderating my first WSC panel. In my day job, I host meetings, lead education courses, moderate panels and speak at conferences but I hadn’t ever led a panel at a con. My assignment for Day One was the Cosplay Contest. Whoop whoop! Talk about a fun way to jump into panels and to end the first day of the con. The lead person for all things WSC Cosplay is Hacksaw Jack and we had been corresponding via email. We met for the first time and Hacksaw was setting up for the Social Media Cosplay contest. What a great way to include fans who couldn’t make it to the con in person! Contestants just snapped a pic in front of the backdrop, con staff uploaded the pics with a specific hashtag and fans would be able to participate through on-line voting. Super fun!

This is a candid pic of me meeting Hacksaw Jack, taken by Eugene Shim, one of our live panel Cosplay judges, and Vanessa Shim is in the photo making her cosplay debut as “Rosita”. She looked awesome!

My daughter and I had a great time in the vendor hall. She enjoys talking to artists, something I discovered about her during SDCC. This year, I’m going pack a lunch while she chats up the comic book artists. And of course, we took a few photos in the hall. One with Michonne’s pets, one with the Well Walker and one with Melissa Hutchinson.

You’ll have to check the Walker Stalker Con website to see the full Cosplay contest, the official photographers grabbed some incredible images. We had a team entry who were dressed up as a mash-up between the Muppets and The Walking Dead. There was a duo of damsels dressed as walker Disney Princesses. A Dr. Who entrant, video game Cosplay, and of course dozens of walkers and stalkers crossed the stage. My friend in Cincinnati found this photo on social media someplace, not sure who took it.

No con is complete without an official celebrity photo op and my daughter chose to take hers with none other than Chandler Riggs. She floated back to the hotel with me and her smile lit up the San Francisco night sky. She kept saying that she was having the very best birthday ever. I’m grateful to Jason & Karen, Mr. Blahg, James and all of the WSC core staff and volunteers for being so welcoming to my daughter. Just look at that smile:

That was most of Day One of Walker Stalker Con San Francisco. More to come…

I’m excited about performing tomorrow at Josh Chang’s second CD launch party. We will be wearing pretty dresses and real tuberose lei 🙂 There will be incredibly talented guest musicians coming in from Hawai’i. And if you can’t make the show, you can buy a CD!